Audio apparatus and audio system

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and a system are provided in which a user can easily check that an appropriate audio file is assigned to an immediate output switch. The system includes a PC connected to a communication line, and an audio interface apparatus connected to the PC and having an immediate output switch for outputting, to the PC and in response to a user operation, a reproduction start instruction signal of an audio file which is assigned in advance. The PC judges whether or not assignment is normal when the audio file is assigned by a user operation, and supplies a judgment result to the audio interface apparatus. The audio interface apparatus receives the judgment result, and notifies, to the user and prior to a user operation, the judgment result in association with the immediate output switch.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-059539filed on Mar. 24, 2016, including the specification, claims, drawings,and abstract, is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an audio apparatus and an audiosystem.

BACKGROUND

In the related art, various sound reproduction apparatuses are proposed.WO 2008/035431 A discloses a sound reproduction apparatus in which aplurality of sound data and assignment data are stored in a USB memory,and the assignment data and a switch are associated with each other sothat sound data corresponding to an operated switch are captured fromthe USB memory. This reference also discloses that the associationoperation of the sound data with the plurality of switches displayed ona display is done by a drag-and-drop operation, and assignment data forassociating the sound data to the switch are transferred to the USBmemory.

JP 2006-065223 A discloses a sound source reproduction apparatus inwhich each of a plurality of tact switches is correlated to sound sourcedata stored in a memory, and an associated program is executed accordingto an operated tact switch, to reproduce and output the sound sourcedata.

JP 2005-045738 A discloses a call apparatus using the Internet whichenables transmission and reception of BGM and sound effects in additionto a call voice, and describes that a sound volume of the BGM and thesound effects is set adjustable so as to optimize the sound volume levelduring synthesis with the call voice and the sound volume level whentransmitting a hold sound by a hold button operation.

There is proposed a technique in which an audio interface apparatus anda computer are connected, various audio signals are captured from theaudio interface and supplied to the computer, and are suitably edited orthe like and recorded on the computer or output to the outside via theInternet (Internet live broadcasting).

In such an audio system, desirably, an audio file to be reproduced andoutput is assigned in advance to a sound reproduction switch provided onthe audio interface apparatus (the switch will hereinafter referred toas an “immediate output” or “PON” switch), and the assigned audio fileis desirably immediately reproduced and output upon operation of theimmediate output switch. For assigning the audio file to the immediateoutput switch in advance, for example, a scheme may be considered inwhich a virtual immediate output switch corresponding to the physicalimmediate output switch of the audio interface apparatus is displayed onthe computer, and the audio file is assigned by dragging-and-droppingthe audio file to the virtual immediate output switch.

However, a problem occurs in that, in principle, even when aninappropriate file (a file other than the audio file) is erroneouslyassigned to the immediate output switch, it is not possible to noticethat the file is inappropriate until the immediate output switch isactually operated. Even when an appropriate file (audio file) isassigned to the immediate output switch, if the data of the file are inan abnormal state such as when the data are damaged, and the audiocannot be reproduced, similar problem would occur.

SUMMARY

An advantage of the present disclosure lies in the provision of anapparatus and a system in which a user can easily check that anappropriate audio file is assigned to the immediate output switch.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided anaudio apparatus that can be connected to a computer, the audio apparatuscomprising: an operation switch that outputs, to a computer and inresponse to a user operation, a reproduction start instruction signal ofan audio file which is assigned in advance; a receiver that receives,from the computer, a result of judgment, executed by the computer, ofwhether or not the audio file which is assigned in advance is normal;and a processor that notifies, to the user and prior to a useroperation, a judgment result in association with the operation switchbased on the judgment result received by the receiver.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the processornotifies the judgment result as a change of a display form including atleast one of a display color and a display brightness of the operationswitch.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the judgmentresult includes at least two states of normal and no assignment, and theprocessor displays the at least two states of normal and no assignmentin an identifiable manner.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the audioapparatus further comprises an on-air switch that outputs, to thecomputer and in response to a user operation, a switching signal fordetermining whether or not the audio file is to be output on-air, andthat outputs, to the computer, a reproduction start instruction signalof an audio file which is assigned in advance when the audio file is notto be output on-air, wherein the receiver receives, from the computer, aresult of judgment, executed by the computer, of whether or not theaudio file which is assigned in advance is normal, and the processornotifies, to the user and prior to a user operation, the judgment resultin association with the on-air switch based on the judgment resultreceived by the receiver.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is providedan audio system comprising: a computer that is connected to acommunication line; and an audio apparatus that is connected to thecomputer and that comprises an operation switch that outputs, to thecomputer and in response to a user operation, a reproduction startinstruction signal of an audio file which is assigned in advance,wherein the computer comprises a display; and a first processor thatdisplays, on the display, a virtual switch corresponding to theoperation switch, that judges whether or not assignment is normal whenan audio file is assigned to the virtual switch by a user operation,that displays a judgment result in association with the virtual switch,and that supplies the judgment result to the audio apparatus, and theaudio apparatus comprises: a receiver that receives the judgment resultsupplied from the first processor; and a second processor that notifies,to the user and prior to a user operation, the judgment result inassociation with the operation switch based on the judgment resultreceived by the receiver. According to another aspect of the presentdisclosure, the second processor notifies the judgment result as achange of a display form including at least one of a display color and adisplay brightness of the operation switch.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the judgmentresult includes at least two states of normal and no assignment, and thesecond processor displays the at least two states of normal and noassignment in an identifiable manner.

According to various aspects of the present disclosure, a user caneasily check, prior to an actual operation of an operation switch(immediate output switch), that an appropriate audio file is assigned tothe immediate output switch.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Embodiment(s) of the present disclosure will be described by referenceto the following figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a system structural diagram of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 2 is a structural block diagram of the embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an audio file assignment accordingto the embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a display of a computer for normalassignment according to the embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a display of a computer for abnormalassignment according to the embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of an audio interface apparatus fornormal assignment according to the embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an audio interface apparatus forabnormal assignment according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure; and

FIG. 8 is a process flowchart of the embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Structure

An embodiment of the present disclosure will now be described withreference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a structural diagram of a system of the present embodiment. Anaudio system according to the present embodiment comprises a personalcomputer (PC) 10 and an audio interface apparatus 14, and the PC 10 andthe audio interface apparatus 14 are connected to each other, forexample, by a USB cable 12, in a manner to allow transmission andreception of data.

On the PC 10, software for inputting, editing, and outputting audio dataare installed, and the input/output and editing of the audio data areexecuted using the software.

The audio interface apparatus 14 includes an amplifier and an analoginput terminal and an analog output terminal of a plurality of channels,and transmits and receives audio signals and various control signals toand from the PC 10. The audio interface apparatus 14 further includes amicrophone input terminal 16, a built-in microphone 18, a level meter20, and a headphone output adjustment button 28, and also includes animmediate output switch 22 including a plurality of buttons, an effectswitch 24 for producing various sound effects, and an on-air switch 26.

The immediate output switch 22 includes three immediate output switches,including “immediate output 1,” “immediate output 2,” and “immediateoutput 3.” When the user operates the immediate output switch 22, theaudio interface apparatus 14 supplies a reproduction output instructionsignal to the PC 10, and the PC 10 reproduces and outputs an audiosignal in response to the reproduction output instruction signal. Whenthe PC 10 is connected to the Internet and the audio signal reproducedby the PC 10 can be output to the outside via the Internet (Internetlive broadcasting), the audio signal is reproduced and output to theInternet by the user operating the immediate output switch 22 in a statewhere the on-air switch 26 is set to an ON state. To the three switchesof the immediate output switch 22; that is, the “immediate output 1,”the “immediate output 2,” and the “immediate output 3,” desired audiofiles may be assigned in advance, and the user can control the PC 10 toreproduce and output the audio file which is assigned in advance byoperating one of the three immediate output switches, the “immediateoutput 1,” the “immediate output 2,” and the “immediate output 3.” Theassignment of the audio file to the immediate output switch 22 will bedescribed later in detail.

The effect switch 24 is a switch for adding a predetermined sound effectto the audio signal. The predetermined sound effect may be arbitrary,and the process may be, for example, a process to add a reverb(reverberation sound).

The on-air switch 26 is a switch for instructing the PC 10 to output inreal time via the Internet. By the user operating the on-air switch 26to the ON state, for example, the audio signal which is input from themicrophone input terminal 16 can be output to the Internet from the PC10, or by the user operating the “immediate output 1,” the audio fileassigned in advance to the “immediate output 1” may be reproduced andoutput to the Internet.

FIG. 2 is a structural block diagram of an audio system according to thepresent embodiment.

The PC 10 includes a CPU 50, a ROM 52, a RAM 54, a memory 56, a display58, a communication interface I/F 60, and a USB connector 62. Inaddition, the PC 10 comprises a known input/output interface such as amouse and a keyboard.

The CPU 50 realizes various functions of the present embodiment byreading a processing program stored in the ROM 52 or a hard disk driveor the like, and executing the processing program using the RAM 54 as aworking memory.

The memory 56 stores the audio file and other files. A format of theaudio file is arbitrary, and may be, for example, WAV or MP3. The otherfiles are also arbitrary, and may be document data, image data, or videodata.

The display 58 displays various information based on a controlinstruction from the CPU 50. In the present embodiment, in order tocooperate with the audio interface apparatus 14, the display 58 displaysvirtual switches corresponding to the switches of the audio interfaceapparatus 14; more specifically, the immediate output switch 22, theeffect switch 24, and the on-air switch 26.

The communication I/F 60 is an interface for connecting to the Internetserving as the communication line. The connection to the Internet may beeither wired or wireless.

The USB connector 62 is a connector for USB-connecting with the audiointerface apparatus 14. In the drawings, there is schematically shown aconnection with a USB connector 49 on the side of the audio interfaceapparatus 14 via the USB cable 12.

The CPU 50 functions as a first controller of the system, and assigns inadvance audio files desired by the user to the three switches of theimmediate output switch 22, in response to the user operation.Specifically, the CPU 50 associates, in response to the user operation,one of the files stored in the memory 56 and one of the switches of theimmediate output switch 22. For example, an audio file of “AAA.WAV”stored in the memory 56 is associated with the “immediate output 1,” andan audio file of “BBB.WAV” is associated with the “immediate output 2.”The description of “association” specifically means registration of apath of the audio file with the “immediate output 1.” The user causesthe display to display, for example, a list of files stored in thememory 56, and can assign (associate) the file and the switch bydropping, with a drag-and-drop operation or the like, a desired audiofile icon to a virtual switch corresponding to the immediate outputswitch 22. The CPU 50 judges, in the assignment by the user operation,whether or not the audio file assigned to the immediate output switch 22is normally assigned.

Here, the description of “normally assigned” means that the audio fileis an audio file of a format that can be reproduced by the PC 10 andthat there is no data damage or the like and the audio file can beactually reproduced. In addition, the description of “abnormallyassigned” (or not normally assigned) means that the audio file is anaudio file of a format that cannot be reproduced by the PC 10 or that,although the audio file is in the format that can be reproduced by thePC 10, there is data damage or the like and the audio file cannotactually be reproduced.

The CPU 50 judges whether or not the audio file is normally assignedwhen the file is assigned to the immediate output switch 22 by the useroperation, and displays a judgment result as an assignment state on thedisplay 58, to notify the user. The assignment state includes at leastthe judgment result of normal/abnormal, and when the state is normal,the assigned file name may be included.

The CPU 50 further supplies the data indicating the assignment state tothe audio interface apparatus 14 which is USB-connected. With such aconfiguration, the assignment state is shared between the PC 10 and theaudio interface apparatus 14.

The audio interface apparatus 14 comprises, in addition to themicrophone input terminal 16, the built-in microphone 18, the immediateoutput switch 22, the effect switch 24, and the on-air switch 26described above, an external input terminal 30, an output terminal 32,switching switches 19 and 47, amplifiers 34, 40, and 46,analog-to-digital converters (ADC) 36 and 42, a digital-to-analogconverter (DAC) 44, a reverb adder (REVERB) 38, and a processor 48.

An audio signal which is input from the microphone input terminal 16 andthe built-in microphone 18 is selectively switched by the switchingswitch 19, supplied via the amplifier 34, and converted into a digitalaudio signal by the ADC 36. To the digital audio signal, reverb issuitably added by the reverb adder 38 according to an operation of theeffect switch 24 by the user, and the resulting digital audio signal isoutput to a stereo bus. In addition, an audio signal which is input fromthe external input terminal (AUX IN) 30 is supplied via the amplifier40, converted into a digital audio signal by the ADC 42, and output tothe stereo bus.

The audio signal which is input from the microphone input terminal 16,the built-in microphone 18, and the external input terminal 30, or theaudio signal which is supplied from the PC 10 is supplied via the stereobus, converted into an analog audio signal by the DAC 44, and outputfrom the output terminal 32 such as a headphone terminal via theamplifier 46. A gain of the amplifier 46 is adjusted by the headphoneoutput adjustment button 28.

The USB connector 49 for connection with the PC 10 is connected to thestereo bus via the switching switch 47. The switching switch 47 islinked with the on-air switch 26. When the on-air switch 26 is operatedON, a connection point is set to the ON state, and the output of theaudio signal from the audio interface apparatus 14 to the PC 10 isstarted. On the other hand, regardless of the operation of the on-airswitch 26, the control signal from the PC 10 to the audio interfaceapparatus 14 is supplied to the processor 48.

The processor 48 functions as a second controller of the system, andcontrols operations of various parts of the audio interface apparatus14. The processor 48 controls the operation according to operationsignals from the immediate output switch 22, the effect switch 24, andthe on-air switch 26. Specifically, the processor 48 outputs thereproduction instruction signal to the PC 10 in response to theoperation signal from the immediate output switch 22. When the“immediate output 1” of the immediate output switch 22 is operated, thereproduction instruction signal for “immediate output 1” is output; whenthe “immediate output 2” is operated, the reproduction instructionsignal for “immediate output 2” is output; and when the “immediateoutput 3” is operated, the reproduction instruction signal for“immediate output 3” is output. The CPU 50 of the PC 10, upon receivingthe reproduction instruction signal, reproduces and outputs an audiofile assigned to the “immediate output 1,” the “immediate output 2,” orthe “immediate output 3” in advance. In addition, the CPU 50 operatesthe reverb adder 38 in response to the operation signal from the effectswitch 24, to add the reverb. Moreover, in response to the operationsignal from the on-air switch 26, the CPU 50 outputs to the PC 10 asignal output start (broadcast start) instruction signal or a signaloutput stop (broadcast stop) instruction signal, and controls switchingON/OFF of the switching switch 47.

The processor 48 receives data indicating the judgment result of theassignment supplied from the PC 10 via the USB cable 12, the USBconnector 49, and the bus, and controls a display form of the immediateoutput switch 22 based on the data indicating the judgment result ofassignment. The display form includes existence/absence of theassignment of the audio file, and, if an audio file is assigned,judgment result of normal/abnormal. For example, the PC 10 judgeswhether or not the assignment by the user operation is normal, and, ifthe states are such that an audio file is normally assigned for the“immediate output 1,” an audio file is abnormally assigned for the“immediate output 2,” and no audio file is assigned for the “immediateoutput 3,” these pieces of information are supplied from the PC 10 tothe processor 48 as data indicating the assignment state. Based on thesepieces of information, the processor 48 lights the “immediate output 1,”causes the “immediate output 2” to blink, and does not light the“immediate output 3.”

The user can reproduce a desired audio file and output the audio file tothe Internet by operating the immediate output switch 22 of the audiointerface apparatus 14. During this process, the user can visually checkthe display form of the immediate output switch, to easily check whetheror not an audio file is assigned to each switch of the immediate outputswitch, and whether or not the assignment is normal.

<Assignment of Audio File>

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a process when the user assigns adesired audio file to the immediate output switch 22 on the PC 10.

The CPU 50 of the PC 10 executes a processing program to display ascreen shown on FIG. 3 on the display 58. Virtual switches 78, 80, and82 corresponding to the three switches of the physical immediate outputswitch 22 of the audio interface apparatus 14, the “immediate output 1,”the “immediate output 2,” and the “immediate output 3,” respectively,are displayed on the screen, and a virtual switch 84 corresponding tothe physical on-air switch 26 of the audio interface apparatus 14 isalso displayed on the screen. Icons 79, 81, and 83 at top right of thevirtual switches 78, 80, and 82, respectively, are icons for instructingrepeated reproduction (repeat) of the assigned audio file. In addition,display units 70, 72, and 74 for displaying the sound volume (weak talk,strong talk, weak singing, strong singing, etc.), the reverb, and theeffects (other than reverb) are displayed. Further, a list 76 of variousfiles stored in the memory 56 is displayed. The file list 76 may be alist displayed on Windows Explorer (registered trademark).

The user selects, among the group of files displayed in the file list76, a file to be assigned to the immediate output switch 22, andexecutes the drag-and-drop operation to assign the file to one of thevirtual switches 78˜82. Alternatively, a configuration may be employedin which, by pressing the virtual switches 78˜82, a file selectionscreen (such as a tree screen similar to the file list 76 and theexplorer) is displayed.

For example, when the audio file “AAA.wav” is to be assigned to the“immediate output 1,” the audio file “AAA.wav” is dragged-and-dropped tothe virtual switch 78 corresponding to the “immediate output 1.” In thefigure, an arrow 100 shows the drag-and-drop operation of the audio file“AAA.wav” to the virtual switch 78. Similarly, when the audio file“BBB.wav” is to be assigned to the “immediate output 2,” the audio file“BBB.wav” is dragged-and-dropped to the virtual switch 80 correspondingto the “immediate output 2.” In the figure, an arrow 200 shows thedrag-and-drop operation of the audio file “BBB.wav” to the virtualswitch 80.

When a file is assigned by the drag-and-drop operation in this manner,the CPU 50 judges whether or not the assignment is normal, and displaysthe result of the judgment on the display 58.

<Display on PC 10>

FIG. 4 shows an example display form of the display 58 when theassignment is normal. A name 90 of the audio file assigned, “AAA,” isdisplayed on the virtual switch 78, and a name 92 of the audio fileassigned, “BBB,” is displayed on the virtual switch 80. The virtualswitches 78 and 80 may be displayed with a color different from anordinary color (for example, the color may be blue whereas the color inthe ordinary case is white), or may be displayed with an increasedbrightness. The virtual switch 82 to which no audio file is assigned isdisplayed with the ordinary color and the ordinary brightness.

FIG. 5 shows an example display form of the display 58 when theassignment is abnormal. When the extension of the audio file “BBB.wav”is rewritten and the file is not in principle an audio file, or when thefile is an audio file but is not actually reproducible, the CPU 50displays the virtual switch 80 with a color different from the ordinarycolor (for example, in red whereas the file in the ordinary case isdisplayed with blue). In addition, in order to call the user'sattention, the virtual switch 80 may be displayed in a blinking manner,or a “!” symbol 94 may be displayed. The user can visually check such adisplay to see, before actually operating the immediate output switch22, that while the audio file “AAA” is normally assigned to the“immediate output 1,” there is an abnormality in the assignment of the“immediate output 2” and immediate output is not possible, and that noaudio file is assigned to the “immediate output 3.”

The CPU 50 displays the judgment result of the normality/abnormality ofthe assignment on the display 58, and also supplies the judgment resultto the processor 48 of the audio interface apparatus 14, to share thejudgment result between the PC 10 and the audio interface apparatus 14.The immediate output of the assigned audio file is ordinarily executedby the user operating the immediate output switch 22 of the audiointerface apparatus 14, but alternatively, the immediate output may berealized by the user clicking on the virtual switches 78, 80, and 82 onthe PC 10 with a mouse, or the like.

<Display on Audio Interface Apparatus 14>

FIG. 6 shows an example display form of the immediate output switch 22of the audio interface apparatus 14 when the assignment is normal. The“immediate output 1” and the “immediate output 2” are lighted, and the“immediate output 3” to which no file is assigned remains unlighted.Alternatively, the “immediate output 1” and the “immediate output 2” maybe displayed with a color different from ordinary, for example, in blue.

FIG. 7 shows an example display form of the immediate output switch 22of the audio interface apparatus 14 when the assignment is abnormal.When the extension of the audio file “BBB.wav” is rewritten and the fileis in principle not an audio file, or when the file is an audio file butis not actually reproducible, the “immediate output 2” is lighted with acolor different from the color of the ordinary case, for example, inred. Alternatively, the “immediate output 2” may be displayed in ablinking manner. The user can visually check such a display to see inadvance before actually operating the immediate output switch 22 that,while an audio file is normally assigned to the “immediate output 1,”the assignment of the “immediate output 2” is abnormal, and theimmediate output cannot be executed, and that no audio file is assignedto the “immediate output 3.”

FIGS. 4˜7 exemplify display forms for normal and abnormal cases at thePC 10 and the audio interface apparatus 14. Alternatively, otherarbitrary display forms are possible, so long as the states aredisplayed in a form to allow identification of three states including anormal assignment state, an abnormal assignment state, and a noassignment state.

<Process Flowchart>

FIG. 8 shows a process flowchart during assignment of the audio file inthe present embodiment.

The user first operates the PC 10 to cause the CPU 50 to display thescreen as shown in FIG. 3 on the display 58, selects a desired file fromthe file list 76, and drag-and-drops the file (S101). For example, theuser may drag-and-drop the “BBB.wav” file to the virtual switch 80corresponding to the “immediate output 2.”

The CPU 50 first judges whether or not a file format of thedrag-and-dropped file is a format compatible with a predetermined musicreproduction software (S102). For example, when the music reproductionsoftware is compatible with WAV or MP3, the CPU 50 judges whether or notthe file format is either of these formats. The judgment of the fileformat is desirably executed simply by judging whether or not theextension of the audio file is compatible with WAV or MP3. When the fileformat of the drag-and-dropped file is other than WAV or MP3 (forexample, when “CCC.bmp” is dragged-and-dropped) (NO in S102), the CPU 50rejects dropping of the file (S103), and cancels the drag-and-dropoperation (S104). In this case, the assignment to the immediate outputswitch 22 is not executed. In this process, the CPU 50 may display anerror message on the display 58 such as “wrong file format,” to notifythe user. Alternatively, the CPU 50 may set the display state of thevirtual switch 80 for which dropping of the file is rejected to theabnormal display for a predetermined period (period to allow the user torecognize).

When the file format of the drag-and-dropped file conforms with theformat of the music reproduction software (YES in S102), the CPU 50permits dropping of the file (S105), and sets a file path forassociating the dropped file and the immediate output switch 22corresponding to the virtual switch (S106). For example, when “BBB.wav”is dropped to the virtual switch 80, the CPU 50 sets a file path forreading “BBB.wav” to the “immediate output 2” corresponding to thevirtual switch 80.

Next, the CPU 50 judges whether or not the associated audio file can beactually reproduced. Specifically, the CPU 50 sets a sound device of thePC 10 to a mute-ON state (S107), and reproduces the audio files assignedto the virtual switches 78, 80, and 82 (S108). This reproduction doesnot need to be executed at a standard rate, and may be executed at arate of double speed or greater. The CPU 50 judges whether or not anerror is caused during the reproduction (S109).

When no error is caused during reproduction, the CPU 50 sets the mute ofthe sound device of the PC 10 to an OFF state (S110), sets the soundvolume (S111), sets a reproduction start position (S112), and displaysthe virtual switches 78, 80, and 82 in the normal state (S113).

On the other hand, when an error is caused during the reproduction, theCPU 50 displays the abnormal state for the virtual switch, among thevirtual switches 78, 80, and 82, for which abnormality is found (S114).Because the CPU 50 also supplies the judgment result to the audiointerface apparatus 14, in the audio interface apparatus 14 also, thenormal display or the abnormal display of the immediate output switch 22is executed corresponding to the normal display of S113 or abnormaldisplay of S114.

It takes a certain period of time from the start of reproduction in S108to the judgment of whether or not an error is caused in S109. Duringthis period, a normal display may be displayed assuming that the file isnormally assigned, or a third display form different fromnormal/abnormal may be employed; that is, it is also possible to displaythat the state is currently being judged.

An embodiment of the present disclosure has been described. The presentdisclosure, however, is not limited to the embodiment, and variousmodifications may be made.

For example, in the present embodiment, an audio file is assigned to theimmediate output switch 22, but alternatively, an audio file may beassigned also to the on-air switch 26. The user may assign an audio fileto the on-air switch 26 by drag-and-drop operating a desired audio fileto the virtual switch 84 corresponding to the on-air switch 26, similarto the assignment of audio files to the “immediate output 1,” the“immediate output 2,” and the “immediate output 3” by drag-and-dropoperating audio files to the virtual switches 78, 80, and 82 in FIG. 3.In this case also, the CPU 50 judges whether or not the assignment isnormal, displays the judgment result on the display 58 and supplies thejudgment result to the audio interface apparatus 14, and the processor48 notifies the judgment result to the user by changing the display formof the on-air switch 26. Similar to the assignment for the immediateoutput switch 22, the judgment result is one of normal, abnormal, and noassignment. When the assignment is normal, the CPU 50 of the PC 10reproduces the assigned audio file in response to an OFF-operation ofthe on-air switch 26, and sends a predetermined sound to the Internet.Specifically, when the user OFF-operates the on-air switch 26, theswitching switch 47 is switched OFF accordingly, and in this process,the processor 48 outputs a reproduction start instruction signal for aparticular sound to the PC 10. In response to the reproduction startinstruction signal, the CPU 50 reproduces and outputs the audio filewhich is assigned in advance. The predetermined sound is, for example,sound such as “currently, there is no broadcast on-air.” When the audiofile is assigned to the on-air switch 26, the processor 48 may set thedisplay color of the on-air switch 26 to a particular color.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the CPU 50 may store, in the ROM52 or the memory 56, the past audio files assigned to the “immediateoutput 1,” the “immediate output 2,” and the “immediate output 3”; thatis, history information of the assignment, and may suitably display thehistory information on the display 58 in response to a user operation.Specifically, when the user moves a cursor of the mouse over the virtualswitch 78, the assignment history of the virtual switch 78; that is, the“immediate output 1,” is displayed. The user can visually check thehistory displayed in a pull-down menu form, and select a particularaudio file in the history, so that the user can newly assign the audiofile in this manner in place of the drag-and-drop operation. When theCPU 50 stores the history information for each immediate output switch,desirably, the CPU 50 only stores the audio file whose assignment wasjudged by the CPU 50 as normal. For example, when the audio filesassigned in the past and the judgment result thereof are as follows,with o representing normal and x representing abnormal:

-   “aaa.mp3”→o;-   “bbb.mp3”→x;-   “ccc.wav”→o,    the history is stored with “bbb.mp3” being deleted from the history    information. Alternatively, the CPU 50 may display a particular    display for the file judged as having abnormal assignment, to call    attention of the user. The history information may be a common    display in place of the display for each virtual switch (immediate    output switch), or may be in a form that the individual display and    the common display can be switched by setting.

Moreover, in the present embodiment, the judgment result of assignmentat the PC 10 is shared between the PC 10 and the audio interfaceapparatus 14, but alternatively, the result may be shared with the audiointerface apparatus 14 only when the PC 10 judges that the assignment isnormal. In this case, the processor 48 of the audio interface apparatus14 displays, in an identifiable manner, two states of “normal” and “noassignment.” Here, “abnormal” can be considered to be included in “noassignment.”

Further, in the present embodiment, the PC 10 and the audio interfaceapparatus 14 are USB-connected by the USB cable 12, but the connectionform is not limited to this, and may be wired or wireless. Thus, the PC10 and the audio interface apparatus 14 may be connected via Wi-Fi(registered trademark), Bluetooth (registered trademark), or the like.The signals transmitted and received between the PC 10 and the audiointerface apparatus 14 include: the judgment result signal ofassignment, the immediate output signal (reproduction start instructionsignal), the audio signal, and the on-air signal (broadcast start andstop instruction signals), and any arbitrary connection form that allowstransmission and reception of these signals may be employed.

1. An audio apparatus that can be connected to a computer, the audioapparatus comprising: an operation switch that outputs, to a computerand in response to a user operation, a reproduction start instructionsignal of an audio file which is assigned in advance; a receiver thatreceives, from the computer, a result of judgment, executed by thecomputer, of whether or not the audio file which is assigned in advanceis normal; and a processor that notifies, to the user and prior to auser operation, a judgment result in association with the operationswitch based on the judgment result received by the receiver.
 2. Theaudio apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor notifies thejudgment result as a change of a display form including at least one ofa display color and a display brightness of the operation switch.
 3. Theaudio apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the judgment resultincludes at least two states of normal and no assignment, and theprocessor displays the at least two states of normal and no assignmentin an identifiable manner.
 4. The audio apparatus according to claim 1,further comprising: an on-air switch that outputs, to the computer andin response to a user operation, a switching signal for determiningwhether or not the audio file is to be output on-air, and that outputs,to the computer, a reproduction start instruction signal of an audiofile which is assigned in advance when the audio file is not to beoutput on-air, wherein the receiver receives, from the computer, aresult of judgment, executed by the computer, of whether or not theaudio file which is assigned in advance is normal, and the processornotifies, to the user and prior to a user operation, the judgment resultin association with the on-air switch based on the judgment resultreceived by the receiver.
 5. An audio system, comprising: a computerthat is connected to a communication line; and an audio apparatus thatis connected to the computer and that comprises an operation switch thatoutputs, to the computer and in response to a user operation, areproduction start instruction signal of an audio file which is assignedin advance, wherein the computer comprises: a display; and a firstprocessor that displays, on the display, a virtual switch correspondingto the operation switch, that judges whether or not assignment is normalwhen an audio file is assigned to the virtual switch by a useroperation, that displays a judgment result in association with thevirtual switch, and that supplies the judgment result to the audioapparatus, and the audio apparatus comprises: a receiver that receivesthe judgment result supplied from the first processor; and a secondprocessor that notifies, to the user and prior to a user operation, thejudgment result in association with the operation switch based on thejudgment result received by the receiver.
 6. The audio system accordingto claim 5, wherein the second processor notifies the judgment result asa change of a display form including at least one of a display color anda display brightness of the operation switch.
 7. The audio systemaccording to claim 6, wherein the judgment result includes at least twostates of normal and no assignment, and the second processor displaysthe at least two states of normal and no assignment in an identifiablemanner.